Artists at Glenridge Hall

Each year my Outdoor Painting Group plans an outing to Glenridge Hall to paint.  This was the house where DRIVING MISS DAISY was filmed.  It is a beautiful Tudor house with gorgeous gardens.  It is hard to decide what to paint.  I love walking around taking photographs.  So enjoy.............

GLENRIDGE HALL - PLEIN AIR PAINTING

It was the perfect Fall day here in Atlanta and my outdoor painting group had an outing planned to Glenridge Hall in Sandy Springs.  It is just off of Abernathy if you live in the Atlanta area.  The home is located on 47 acres and is absolutely beautiful.  You could paint every square inch of the place.  It reminds me of the secret garden with secret sitting areas and passageways all over the grounds.  Here is my set-up and beginning of my watercolor.  

This view is of the front of the house but doesn't show the right wing!  I am walking from the caretaker's cottage.  I love to walk around the grounds when I first arrive to take photos.  I am usually there in the spring -- so this was the first time I had been in the fall.

Below is the side porch where we eat our lunch.  We usually paint for a few hours, grab our lunches and relax on this porch with it's original wicker chairs.

There were a lot of bees out today.

This is a shot of the backyard.  To the left of this photo is a HUGE chess set.  The flower gardens wind around to the left and the right.  The most gorgeous turquoise wrought iron chairs are on the patio at the top of these stairs.

A shot of the chess set.

These steps are leading down from the rear of the house.

The turquoise chairs.  They must have 30 of them!

Here is another wrought iron settee hidden behind some plantings.

I am standing at the rear of the house looking down to the lower gardens.

Looking back up towards the back of the house.

This fountain is located in the front side of the house close to the caretaker's cottage.  There is also a lake, a koi pond and many more paths and gardens on the grounds.

Another shot of my little table where I spent the morning painting in the most beautiful spot.  I hope you enjoyed my photos of Glenridge Hall.

THE BIG CHICKEN

If you're from Atlanta you know the Big Chicken. It is used for directions, "Turn left at the Big Chicken", "Go past the Big Chicken and hang a right", "If you go past the Big Chicken you've gone too far" etc. It's a huge structure that identifies Marietta, Ga. and has eyes that roll around and a beak that opens and closes. It's one of THE landmarks of Atlanta! I saw a copy of "My Trip to the Big Chicken" at our library and realized that one of our patrons actually wrote the book. It is very cute and tells the story of a little girl and her first trip to the Big Chicken. Well, my great-niece turns 3 tomorrow and I bought the book for her along with a cute chicken Webkinz. Her grandmother is from Marietta and her great grandfather was the mayor of Marietta many years ago. In fact, there is a bridge named after him off of Atlanta St. named the Dick Hunter bridge. If you get a chance check out the book at your local library or pick up a copy of your own. The author is Sherry L Lewis.

Painting at Glenridge Hall

This view is the back side of Glenridge Hall along the slate walkway up to the backyard. I was able to get the first layer of paint on my paper. I will finish it up at home.





This is Glenridge Hall. It is a beautiful home where my group of plein air painters painted this morning. We wandered around the grounds taking photos, looking at the gardens, the beautiful Tudor home, fountains, and the large chess game. It temperature was in the 80's this morning and creeped up into the low 90's this afternoon but it didn't bother us. When you are painting in such a beautiful setting you are concentrating on your work and the sounds around you, not the heat. We stopped for a few minutes to eat our lunch on the summer porch. Our group had painted here before, but it was my first time. I can't wait to go back!